Perhaps the fact I haven't yet read the book this film was so absolutely gorgeous to watch. The story develops so naturally one barely can wait to see the next scene, and the next and so forth. Very wise choice to shoot it with a predominantly English cast I think, and even the (still) horrible pronunciation of the English language by Krabbé himself wasn't disturbing enough to distract from the compelling story, events unfolding well-paced, without any of the important characters having difficulty to rise above stereotype cliché's. I am deeply touched by the angelic Flora Montgomery (Ada Brons; wow, what a fresh, divine and utterly unblemished creature, she must have loved playing her role), Stephen Fry (Onno Quist) stunned me with a very impressive performance, Neil Newbon was IMHO well-cast in his role and held his ground. Mulisch may be (or come across as) an annoying public figure, his work on which this film is based must be nothing short of Great Art. I look forward to reading it.
Wholeheartedly recommended for anyone but those who only dig brute action or sappy Hollywood all's well that ends well crap. A must-see!(9/10)
Wholeheartedly recommended for anyone but those who only dig brute action or sappy Hollywood all's well that ends well crap. A must-see!(9/10)